


Fabula Nova Crystallis

by AstralKnight



Category: Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy XIII Series
Genre: Family Fluff, Gen, Lightning Dealing With People, Lightning-centric, Quite Literally, Worldbuilding, anyway i love this dysfunctional family, i know i said lightning & everyone but, i mostly focused on relationships we didn't see much of in the game proper bc of plot reasons, there's some fang/vanille and serah/snow in the bg, very slight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-23
Updated: 2019-11-23
Packaged: 2021-02-13 15:10:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21496312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AstralKnight/pseuds/AstralKnight
Summary: In the dawn of a new world, our merry band of ex-l'Cie seek the place where they belong.
Relationships: Lightning & Everyone, Serah Farron & Lightning
Kudos: 13





	Fabula Nova Crystallis

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [darya's tweet](https://twitter.com/rorvk/status/1148034576855576576?s=20), specifically the 3rd bullet point. It kind of got out of hand from there, as evidenced by the word count, but hey!
> 
> This is a sort of "what if XIII-2 didn't happen and our main characters had to live on Gran Pulse", and 200% self-indulgent. I'm basing this entirely on the first game, as I haven't read the novels and my memories of XIII-2 are very vague. If there are any lore inconsistencies, and there probably will be, that would be why.
> 
> Enjoy! Comments are greatly appreciated ^^

“I swear to you, I will make her happy.”

“I believe you.”

The combination of Serah’s surprised delight and Snow’s stunned silence makes Lightning feel even softer, somehow.

“Congrats.”

Serah and Snow hug each other again, giggling. Sazh gives Lightning a pointed glance, looking every bit like a proud father. Lightning’s not quite sure what that’s supposed to mean, though Hope seems to have an idea, judging by his amused expression. It’s probably a good thing, so she doesn’t dwell on it too much.

When Serah is done with her mini-celebration, long overdue introductions are made. It goes smoothly enough, until it’s Lightning’s turn to introduce herself to Dajh. It’s a bit awkward for her, but she’s thankfully saved by the Chocobo chick chirping and popping out of Sazh’s afro, of all things.

Serah’s loud gasp immediately captures everyone’s attention. Lightning and Snow give each other a knowing glance almost by reflex, as Serah inevitably gushes about how cute the chick is. Serah asks for permission to touch it, but the chick isn’t bound by any social rules and flies into her hands of its own volition.

When Serah asks what its name is while petting it, Lightning suddenly realizes that it’s never actually had one, or at least she’d never heard Sazh use a name for it. She’s never really thought about it before, what with all this fal’Cie, l’Cie and world ending business. She doesn’t even know the story behind it, actually.

It turns out that the chick had been purchased right before Dajh had his life-altering incident, and Dajh hadn’t been able to decide on a name. So, Sazh had never named it himself, leaving it until his son was returned to him. It’s a sweet story, the kind that makes one smile. The fact that Dajh admits he still has no idea what to name it and that Serah enthusiastically offers her help under Sazh’s emotional gaze is a fitting end for it, Lightning thinks.

The conversation continues with Serah asking about Hope and Sazh, with Snow peppering in some comments here and there. Lightning herself is only half-listening, her attention focused on the movement around the crystal pillar. Airborne transports are coming and going, seemingly evacuating civilians from Cocoon.

Snow is the second one to notice and, true to form, voices it a bit more loudly than necessary. It’s followed by an excited, “C’mon, I’ve gotta tell NORA the good news!”

Snow’s grin turns sheepish when he realizes he’s interrupted the conversation. Everyone’s known him enough to be used to it by now, but that still doesn’t stop Lightning from sighing in exasperated fondness at his exuberance, making everyone’s attention shift to her. She shrugs and starts heading towards the pillar, because they might as well do it.

Lightning turns around a couple of steps in to see if they’ll follow and catches them at the tail end of a collective shrug that looks suspiciously similar to hers before they go. She rolls her eyes at them in a clearly exaggerated manner, much to their amusement.

They all fall in step with each other and the conversation picks up where it left off, except this time Lightning actively participates by throwing in her thoughts and dry humor here and there. The trek to get there isn’t short by any means, but it’s not particularly long either, as used as they are to running around Gran Pulse. 

Lightning becomes less talkative as they approach the growing mass of people. She can spot the tell-tale uniforms of PSICOM and the Guardian Corps. It makes her tense, muscles coiled and ready for a potential attack. While they’re technically not l’Cie anymore, none but the six of them know and their faces had been broadcasted over the news at least once.

The others catch on to Lightning’s wariness and advance more cautiously, unconsciously moving closer together, hands hovering near their weapons. Only Snow seems unaffected, though he does move slightly in front of Serah, ready to protect her at a moment’s notice. Serah sends her a concerned look and Lightning answers with a smile that she hopes comes off as reassuring. Serah doesn’t look convinced, so perhaps it came off as a grimace instead.

The uniforms don’t advance towards them, even though their group sticks out amidst the green grass of the plains. It turns out having pink hair is, unsurprisingly, not the best for camouflage, but it’s much too late to think about that now. 

In fact, PSICOM and the Guardian Corps seem more concerned about working with each other than anything else. Lightning knows that joint operations are very rare and that they usually come with some friction. They evidently managed to strike a tentative alliance, with the Guardian Corps handling civilians, while PSICOM are forming a perimeter and sending small scouting parties to look out for threats.

It’s obvious then that PSICOM has lost most of their chain of command in the past few weeks. The PSICOM officers are more subdued than usual, maybe because of the actions and deaths of their leaders. Whatever it is, it’s making the approach of Lightning’s group much easier.

They reach the perimeter and are greeted by a PSICOM recruit, obvious by the tremor of nervousness in their voice, asking them to identify themselves.

Lightning crosses her arms and affects the most annoyed look she can muster. “Guardian Corps. We’re here to help.”

The recruit looks at Lightning’s attire, a heavily modified version of the Guardian Corps uniform, then at the others. They hesitate and Lightning taps her foot impatiently with a glare.

The recruit decides asking what in the world they were doing outside of the perimeter isn’t worth this woman’s wrath and delivers a clumsy, “Uh, sure, right this way, ma’am.”

Lightning nods and walks briskly through, quickly followed by the others. Serah smiles at the recruit and pats their shoulder in sympathy as she passes by.

Lightning slows her pace as they approach the gathered civilians, their idle chatter getting progressively louder. Snow takes the lead alongside Serah, using his height to scan for NORA’s members. Lightning follows absent-mindedly, glad that Snow’s broad frame makes the crowd give them a wide berth.

Lightning hears some poor soul say that Gran Pulse isn’t actually a den of monsters like they were lead to believe. They’re partly right, because Pulsians haven’t been a threat for centuries, but they’re in for a rough awakening with the local wildlife.

She also hears quite a few of them wanting to settle and rebuild around the crystal pillar. It makes sense, insofar as the Cocoonites are ill-equipped to handle the Pulsian wilderness. Lightning still thinks it’s not the brightest idea for a long-term plan. She believes the crystal pillar will hold for a time, but she’s not sure if the entire thing will fall apart in the event that Vanille and Fang wake up. She’d really rather not think about that, actually.

She’s also not keen on living in Cocoon’s quite literal shadow, a constant reminder of a gilded prison of fal’Cie design. Regardless of her feelings on the matter, she knows it will happen, simply because she knows Cocoonites will take comfort in the proximity of their old home. They don’t all have the same complicated history with it as she does.

Her thoughts are interrupted by an easily recognizable yell in front of her and she knows they’ve found NORA just by the increase of the noise level. She groans, maybe louder than she planned, because Hope sends her a sympathetic glance. Unfortunately for her, it gets even higher after Snow announces the good news. Lightning thinks she could really go for a painkiller right about now.

Eventually, the conversation gets quieter, or as quiet as it can be when it includes some people that will not be named. Because it’s what’s on everyone’s minds at the moment, the subject about where they should settle comes up. There’s a bit of a debate over it, as everyone has their own opinion on it.

For her part, Lightning doesn’t have to think about it twice. She’s about to declare her intent when Hope beats her to it. It’s met with instant enthusiasm from the ex-l’Cie, save Serah who, like NORA, is understandably confused.

Hope is the one to explain what Oerba is and what it means to them. Serah immediately loves the idea of breathing some life back into it, so Vanille and Fang don’t have to wake up to find it’s a ghost town ever again. NORA is on board as long as Snow is, so the decision is quickly made.

Their next order of business is to plan. If they want to start something there, they’ll need more than their small group to really establish a community. Snow, Serah and NORA get to scouting with gusto, while the rest follow more passively.

It turns out that more people than Lightning expected aren’t comfortable living right below a giant orb supported by a single crystal pillar. It’s not a huge number by any means, but it’s still fairly sizable. 

With their new numbers, the problem of how to get there is their main concern. They need to send a vanguard to clear it out, make it habitable and, above all, safe before they can allow themselves to bring a second wave of people who are more at risk than others. The future population of Oerba now includes children, the elderly and a few people with physical disabilities who hadn’t had enough money to compensate with technology on Cocoon.

The first and most popular option is to reach Oerba via dropship. That idea is quickly put to the backburner. The dropships are designed for military use, making them unable to hold great numbers without ignoring safety protocols. 

On top of that, now that the Cocoon fal’Cie are more or less useless now, their reserves of fuel are probably limited for the near future. They probably still have more than enough to make several round trips there, depending on how far Oerba actually is from Cocoon, but they all agree that if they don’t _ need _ to use fuel, they will leave it for those who do.

The final plan goes like this: the first wave will go to Oerba on foot and the second wave will use the dropships to join them once the area is habitable. They have more than enough supplies to make it, and those who journeyed with Vanille and Fang know how to find edible food on Gran Pulse if they somehow run out.

This means that people who use wheelchairs will be part of the second wave after all, for the simple reason that they are designed for the flat, perfectly smooth streets of Cocoon. Gran Pulse is far from flat and perfectly smooth, which could cause a number of problems for wheelchair users.

Lightning points out that most of the civilians’ shoes have the same problem, with their thin and flat soles. It gets her a few weird looks until she has to explain that walking on uneven terrain for hours at a time with inadequate shoes is begging for feet and leg problems, and that’s not even counting rockier areas.

This causes a bit of a panic for some, much to Lightning’s exasperation. She doesn’t feel like shouting, so she gets Snow to do it instead. Telling everyone that running shoes are fine — for the most part — is enough to calm them down, which gets another exasperated scoff out of Lightning, because if they had just let her _ finish _…

She tells herself that at least, she’s not officially in charge of interacting with this many people, which is a job that Serah, Sazh and Snow have more or less taken upon themselves instead. Hope is maybe a bit more comfortable than she is with that, but not by much.

In preparation for the journey, Hope goes to Cocoon, with Snow as his handyman. His main goals are to find his dad and to bring back technological salvage. Serah stays on the ground with NORA to coordinate their efforts with the civilians that will accompany them to Oerba. Sazh is content as long as he’s got Dajh with him, and Lightning’s not letting Serah out of her sight just yet.

A few days later, they have most of what they need. Hope’s dad is here, they have a good amount of tech salvaged with the help of various contributors, and they have a rough layout of a map courtesy of Snow convincing a dropship pilot to scout for them and Hope’s very mild skill at drawing maps.

They’re only missing some Chocobos, which are a crucial part of their trek throughout the large plains surrounding Cocoon. Serah is over the moon for this phase of the plan, brandishing bags of Chocobo feed as if they’re weapons. Sazh comes with them just because Dajh wants to see the Chocobos, even if he won’t be part of the first wave going to Oerba.

Serah and Dajh are practically joined at the hip by now, what with their shared love of Chocobos. Serah’s decided that she might as well start building some muscle by carrying Dajh around, and she and Sazh have started rotating to carry Dajh on their shoulders. 

This time, Dajh is settled on Serah’s shoulders and the rest of the group form a protective formation around them. They’re the only ones who don’t have weapons out of all of them and one can never be too sure on Gran Pulse.

The Chocobo chick leads the way, apparently having a sixth sense for other Chocobos in the vicinity. Much like the ones they found on the Archylte Steppe, the Chocobos are in a little alcove surrounded by high rock formations. The combined power of Dajh, Serah, the chick and the food makes short work of their initial wariness.

Serah keeps feeding them even after that, which is a bit too overzealous for Lightning’s tastes. Lightning warns her to be careful not to feed them too much and Serah immediately asks why. It’s a completely reasonable reaction, and yet it makes Lightning’s guilty conscience flare up. Lightning hadn’t even given Serah the opportunity to explain on that fateful day… Lightning doesn’t let her thoughts dig any deeper than that as she launches into her explanation.

It boils down to repeating what she learned from Vanille and Fang, during one of the many nights they spent around a campfire. Pulsians avoided feeding animals they weren’t domesticating as much as possible, so that the wildlife didn’t become dependent on humans for survival. It stuck with Lightning then as an important aspect of the Pulsians’ way of life, as opposed to Cocoon, where all life was controlled in some way. 

Lightning is aware that they most likely meant feeding the same animals consistently, but she isn’t sure what the potential consequences of overfeeding once are. She doesn’t think she wants to find out, so she prefers to err on the side of caution. 

Serah takes the advice to heart and quickly relays it to Dajh, who was following her example. Once they’ve had their fill of petting Chocobos, Serah and Dajh ride one together on the way back to camp. It’s the first time they've ridden a Chocobo in their lives and it’s hard not to smile at their delight.

After a good night’s sleep, it’s time to start their trip to Oerba. They round up whoever will be part of the first wave, take a few moments to say their goodbyes — however temporary — and depart.

* * *

It takes them almost three weeks to get to Oerba. When they arrive, there are a few Cie'th stragglers wandering around the ruined homes. The more major threats have already been taken care of during their l’Cie days, thankfully. The Cie’th are simple enough to dispatch, even without magic.

The hard part comes afterwards, when they have to plan out rebuilding the entire village. There are a few engineers with them, who are able to help with that. They don’t nearly have the same resources as back in Cocoon, but there’s plenty of salvage around and some engineers are thrilled at the new challenges this could pose. 

They can also use the terminals that were, in hindsight, probably placed there by Barthandelus to order materials. The only downside is that it’s set up only to provide them in exchange for money. Because the ex-l’Cie have quite a good amount saved up, it’s not much of a problem for the time being.

Once the details are hammered out, it’s a question of organizing the rebuilding efforts. Serah’s positive attitude and acts of kindness are very helpful for that, and quickly make her popular among their budding village. She’s good at mediating the inevitable interpersonal conflicts that arise when people have to live and work together.

The PSICOM members who tagged along, however, are a different story. They’ve been trained for only one type of response to trouble: excessive force — whether it’s the threat or execution of it. The Guardian Corps much less extreme in their approach, but Serah has to chew quite a few members from both forces out for their lack of compassion and empathy.

Lightning doesn’t know if she should feel proud or concerned, considering Serah seems to be everywhere at once to help. Serah seems happy, but Lightning can see that it takes its toll on her. At least Snow and Hope have taken to follow Serah’s example, lessening the burden she’s taken on herself. Hope involving himself is a bit of a surprise, but it’s nice to see him spread his wings, if only a little.

Lightning herself is the only one who doesn’t follow Serah’s lead. She’s maybe a bit too much like PSICOM when it comes to resolving the interpersonal strife of strangers. It’s something she knows she’s not equipped to deal with, so she stays away. Running interference against monsters and hunting for food is something she can do, though.

This, of course, leads to Lightning reluctantly teaching others how to hunt efficiently, without making the prey suffer needlessly and without spoiling the meat, and how to skin it. It’s mostly teaching through demonstration, and not for the first time, she wishes Vanille and Fang were there to do it instead. The ex-l’Cie learned all of the skills needed to survive on Gran Pulse through them, after all.

One time, Serah teases her about having admirers in the village because of her prowess in combat and Lightning has to scoff. Then, Serah is the one to ask her for a demonstration one day and Lightning is thrown for a loop. Serah’s apparently found a weapon among the items left in Oerba and she wants to learn how to use it. 

Lightning isn’t quite comfortable with the thought of Serah holding a weapon, simply because it clashes with Serah’s gentle soul too much in her mind.

However, Lightning knows it’s better that Serah learns how to fight now that they’re on Gran Pulse. That said, she has absolutely no idea how to use whatever contraption Serah found. When Lightning suggests using the weapons they already have, Serah adamantly refuses. 

Lightning knows not to push when Serah is weirdly stubborn about something specific, so she tries to think about how to get information on it. She remembers Vanille and Fang explained it to Hope when he stumbled on it, but she can’t remember the details of it. 

Hope does remember that the contraption is called a bow, and that it needs arrows to be used. Vanille had described them as “sticks with a pointy end”, so they try to find anything resembling that. Thankfully, they do find some after a bit of digging and are able to use them as a template to make more. 

Hope knows the basic process behind shooting a bow but he has no idea how to aim it. The explanation about bows hadn’t gone that in-depth. This leads to a meeting of minds between Lightning, Serah and Hope on how to practice with a completely new weapon. Snow is there for moral support, since he’s pretty much useless when it comes to aiming.

They build a makeshift target and are able to figure out what makes a bow tick through trial and error. Once Serah is confident enough in her aim, Lightning takes her to the field. She’s a fast learner and, as Lightning finds out later, eager to share her knowledge.

Serah essentially takes over Lightning’s “teaching” duties as soon as she’s mastered the art, and Lightning thinks that, in hindsight, she should have done this much earlier. 

The other thing Lightning does besides combat is carrying materials around and helping on construction projects. Amusingly, Serah’s made a village-wide morning routine inspired from Lightning’s habit of light exercising after getting up. 

It started one fateful morning with Snow joining Lightning, who thought that it was way too early to deal with his antics, then Hope, then Serah… and Serah suddenly had a way to ease the widespread muscle pain problems.

Lightning supposes being used to robots doing all the heavy lifting had a way of making people forget the importance of stretching muscles before using them extensively. The only robot they have here is Vanille’s old bot, which was quickly adopted by Hope, and it’s definitely not made for lifting.

It takes a couple of months for the area to be able to receive the people they left behind at the pillar, and they still have a lot of work to do after that. Hope and a few others are still working on setting up a proper communications array, along with an energy dome to keep threats away and provide some generalized heating.

They’re currently struggling to find a power source that would hold the dome. The wind turbines that were already there don’t provide nearly enough, according to their calculations. They seem confident about their latest idea, though, which apparently involves using the sun as a source of energy.

Regardless of these technical problems, it’s good to see Sazh and Dajh again after they had only been able to communicate very briefly. Hope’s dad is here as well, and he and Sazh seem to have formed some sort of bond. 

Hope doesn’t seem too thrilled that Sazh has initiated Hope’s dad in the art of “dad jokes”, judging by the pleading look he’s giving her. She has absolutely no idea what those are, and she’s still debating the potential risks of asking, so she shrugs helplessly.

Dajh, for his part, tells them that he’s chosen a name for the Chocobo chick. He already has Sazh’s blessing, but he’d like to have Serah’s as well before making an official announcement. Serah picks him up so that he reaches her shoulder, with more ease than she used to. Her whispers the name into her ear and is met with a grin and instant approval.

With that done, Dajh introduces the Chocobo chick again as Chocolina. Sazh gets teary-eyed for a reason Lightning can’t fathom, prompting Hope’s dad to show his support by clasping Sazh’s shoulder with his hand. Lightning and Hope instinctively share a look at that.

They don’t have time for much more before they need to help with the other transports coming in. By the end of the day, they realize that the second wave is much larger than they’d initially calculated. Sazh had told them that a few more people wanted to join them, but they hadn’t expected almost the double. Then again, maybe Sazh’s definition of “few” is just not the same as everyone else’s.

In the end, it’s not that much of a problem for them. They already knew they were going to get a boost in their population, so they just need to adjust accordingly. That means more work for everyone, with the added bonus of extra sets of hands, and it'll make their village grow that much faster.

* * *

Lightning doesn’t think about her own housing until the subject is brought up during an impromptu get-together. Serah and Snow are talking about when to have their wedding, something that wasn’t broached before because of how busy they all are, and then the conversation switches to their ideal house.

It only hits Lightning then that their small group has been living in makeshift tents this entire time, building for others but never for themselves. For Snow and Serah, it’s because it’s just how they are; they decided early on that they didn’t want to be prioritized despite the village recognizing them as their unofficial leaders. 

For Lightning, it’s simply that she never thought about it. It also helps that she’s used to not sleeping in a proper bed by now. Hope is in the same boat as far as she’s aware, content to hang around the people he cares about. Sazh, Dajh and Hope’s dad have barely arrived here a couple of weeks ago, so they're not overly concerned about it.

Now that Lightning’s aware of this, though, she’s not sure how to go about it. She supposes choosing a location comes first. She thinks she would probably much rather live on the outskirts than inside the village proper, just so she’s not surrounded by noise all the time. She’ll still need to find the exact spot she wants, but it’s a start.

From that day onwards, it’s at the back of her mind. She absently makes mental notes during her time out of the village. On some of her free days, she actively explores the mountain range. Because her criteria aren’t exactly hard to meet, there are a plethora of places she could choose, which makes it harder than it has to be, really.

She’s almost tempted to let Serah choose for her, since she’s the type of person who knows what she wants. Lightning decides against it in the end, because Vanille would probably scold her for not making her own choices. That’s something she would rather not experience, even by proxy of her own brain.

Finally, her days of exploration pay off. She finds the perfect — at least, as much as Lightning can consider something perfect — spot when she comes across a small, relatively flat valley. There’s a river that runs through a pond of fresh water and continues down below, probably to feed the lake near Oerba.

It’s isolated enough that it’s quiet, save for the sounds of nature, and close enough that she can easily reach the village on foot. Natural walls of rock surround it on almost every side, protecting it from the elements. Last but not least, the elevation provides her with a great view of the landscape, so she can still keep an eye on Oerba from there.

After she’s back from her trip, she starts coordinating with the engineers so they can tell her if it’s even possible. Much to her relief, they assure her that it’ll only present minor problems, which is something they’re used to by now. She thanks them for their help and goes back to her daily routine.

What she doesn’t expect is that they start working on her house not even a full week after she told them about it. In hindsight, maybe she should have told them that this was not something to follow through with immediately. It turns out that her friends got wind of it and only had to push a little to get enough people on board.

Knowing she can’t convince her friends to drop it, she reluctantly accepts her fate. That’s how she gets a house before everyone else… and how its first floor ends up becoming a communal space for her friends. She has her own room on the second floor, though she only uses it if she really wants to sleep alone.

They’re in a private space just for them for the first time in months and they’re making the most of it. It sometimes gives Lightning headaches, but she supposes she can get her quiet and alone time once they’re all settled.

Because they have a great view, waiting together to watch the sunset quickly becomes routine. Snow and Serah usually play with Dajh while Sazh grumbles about being an old man and sits next to Hope and his dad.

Lightning normally sits with the others but today she’s standing away from them. She’s not sitting because she’s planning on joining them later, though she’s not sure if that’ll hold true. She’s in a weird mood.

From here, she can see how much Oerba has changed since they first set foot in the desolate village. It’s usually a good feeling to see just how far they’ve come by only relying on each other and not on fal’Cie, to have a physical representation of the strength of bonds.

Sometimes, though… Sometimes, it gnaws at her. If she’s honest with herself, it’s been gnawing at her for a while now, long before thinking about houses and Dajh growing on her. Most of the time, it’s just a small pang of longing and it easily goes away. Then, there are days like today, where it’s like a weight on her very being. 

Ironically, days like today happen more often now, because the visual juxtaposition of Oerba and Cocoon constantly reminds her of what’s missing from the picture. And so, not for the first time, she wishes that Vanille and Fang were here with them, watching the same scenery, seeing the new world that wouldn’t exist without them. 

Snow would probably say that they actually have the best seats in the house, maybe because that’s his way of dealing with the pain. She probably wouldn’t even have the heart to refute it, because it’s a nice thought, even though she can’t bring herself to believe it.

She knows from her own experience that being in crystal form is equivalent to dreamless sleep. Then again, they were only in crystal form for a short time, so maybe it’s different. The best person to ask would be Serah, but it still feels… strange between them.

What she does believe is that Vanille and Fang will be fine if they have each other, whenever they end up waking up. And thanks to everyone’s efforts, they’ll have a home to return to now. It’s the only comfort she can give herself when she starts thinking about the unfairness of it all.

Suddenly, she feels something warm trap her right leg. Instinctively, she jerks, reaches for her weapon and looks down. She freezes instantly when she sees that it’s just Dajh hugging her leg, looking up at her in a mix of what seems to be confusion and concern.

Lightning looks helplessly to Sazh as he hurries over to them, apologetic. Lightning is relieved that she caught herself in time but she doesn’t dare move until Dajh is a safe distance away from her. She exhales and relaxes her tense muscles.

She watches as Sazh crouches down and gently explains the concept of personal boundaries varying from person to person. She idly thinks that Sazh must be what a good dad is like. She wonders if Snow and Serah want a child, considering how taken they are with Dajh, and she immediately shuts down that thought.

She doesn’t want to think about the implications of that, much less of the idea of being an aunt. She’s never been good with kids and if they ever ask her to babysit for them, she’ll be ready to get creative to get herself out of that. She loves her sister, but the little she remembers of Serah’s much younger days is enough for a lifetime.

* * *

Lightning and Dajh have a couple more mishaps later on, but Lightning is more prepared, so nothing happens except for her being saved by Sazh again. After that, Dajh sticks to waving at her with his ever-present smile and she waves back at him, her eyes soft.

The work and their daily routines continue. Snow and Serah finally get their house built in the village. It’s ahead of schedule, courtesy of Lightning, who figures pulling the same trick on them is enough for her revenge. It kicks the rest of them into gear, and soon Sazh gets his own place.

Hope and his dad stay at Sazh’s to give Lightning a breather for a time. Eventually, construction starts a dozen meters from Lightning’s house, and it turns out that Hope and his dad are moving there, which will essentially make them neighbors. 

She’s not sure how to feel about it. Naturally, Lightning is fine with Hope on his own; it’s easy to fall back into the understanding they’ve built over time. Hope’s dad is a different story. She’s never actually interacted much with Hope’s dad, even with her friends acting as a buffer. She guesses she’ll find out when they move in.

She does find out that Hope’s dad doesn’t attempt to strike conversations with her and accepts her greeting nods, which works for her. But when it’s all three of them, it’s… stiff. Hope has talked to her about his problems adjusting to living with his dad, but from what she can understand, it’s going relatively smoothly.

Maybe they’re all bad at adjusting to new social situations, or she’s the one feeling awkward because she’s genuinely forgotten what Hope’s dad's name is. She’s actually not sure she knew it in the first place; running from the government tends to limit one’s concerns with learning names.

Unfortunately for her, Hope consistently refers to him as “dad” while Sazh just calls him “dude”, and she’s not about to admit that she doesn’t know. It’s not like she truly needs it, it’s just strange to have him be “Hope’s dad” and “Sazh’s dude” in her mind consistently.

It’s the least of her worries, though, as she finds that truly living alone after all these years has one rather important downside: her mediocre culinary skills. She knows how to do simple dishes, but it’s never going to be on par with Serah’s home-cooked meals. She can admit that she misses them, though she’s not about to go eat at Serah’s every day.

Still, she’s long been used to living on rations and processed food, so she bears it. That is, until Hope invites her over for dinner with him and his dad. As expected, it’s nothing short of awkward, but she does learn two things: Hope’s dad is named Bartholomew — that last syllable really gets to her — and their household isn’t versed in the culinary arts either.

It’s a shame, because they’ve started planting a garden of fruits and vegetables and none of them will be able to use it to its full potential. Be that as it may, she decides she needs to find an alternate source of nourishment for Hope, since he’s still growing.

To do that, she heads to the village. After a bit of aimless wandering, she spots several people coming out of a rather large building with food. She finds out that it’s actually a communal dining hall and the few people she’s asked are singing its praises.

Lightning enters the place to take a quick look around, and is immediately assaulted by the high level of noise. She grimaces slightly and takes stock of the surroundings. The place is filled to the brim, and there are a few dishes to choose from, all of which seem to have a healthy balance of ingredients. That’s all she really needs to know, so she takes her leave as quickly as she’s able.

Lightning’s next goal is to find Serah. She’s easy enough to spot among the villagers — it’s always the pink hair, really — but she’s busy doing some kind of… performance for a group of kids. Lightning’s really not sure what it’s supposed to be, just that the gathered kids, and a few adults who stopped by to watch, are enjoying it greatly.

Lightning doesn’t have to wait long for Serah to excuse herself and gambol towards her. She explains her predicament to her sister and gets an idea of when the dining hall is at its busiest. With that in mind, she tries her luck again the next day while avoiding those time slots. She’s relieved to find there aren’t nearly as many people, and those who aren’t alone are talking quietly.

More importantly, there’s _ space _to sit without having to be glued to some stranger, which is something Lightning appreciates greatly. She gets some of the very last portions of the only meal left and sits in her own corner. The food is… delicious, actually. Lightning might even say it’s almost on par with Serah’s home cooking.

Now that she’s thoroughly investigated the place, she relays the news to Hope and, by proxy, his dad. She even tags along with them the first few times to make sure, despite the awkwardness. It’s getting somewhat better, but they’re not quite there yet. 

Sazh has the genius idea to walk in and sit with them on their third run, and just like that, the stiffness is gone. Dajh is apparently playing with Snow, Serah and a bunch of other kids and Sazh is here to take a breather because of his “old bones”.

From then on, Lightning tries to have at least one other member of their group act as some sort of buffer if she’s not going only with Hope. It ends up starting a tradition of regular gatherings with all of them at the dining hall.

She still goes to the dining hall quite frequently on her own, often enough that the cooking staff knows which dishes she prefers and make sure to set aside a portion for her. Her food is always handed to her by a woman with frizzy hair, brown eyes and a bright smile.

In turn, she starts bringing them fresh meat from her hunts if she’s feeling adventurous in the morning. Then, after she takes up gardening to help maintain Hope and his dad’s vegetables and fruits, she brings what she can harvest. Dropping off ingredients gradually ends up with her helping to prepare them, because that’s one thing she knows how to do from her time living with her sister, and it feels… nice.

All in all, her new life is relatively stress-free. Lightning’s hesitant to relax into it at first but it sneaks up on her anyway. That is, until she hears one of the most baffling news of her life.

“She _ what _?”

Sazh raises his hands in a placating gesture. “Y’know how she likes animals and stuff?”

Lightning stares at him because she absolutely does, but it doesn’t help her process this information any better.

Sazh continues, almost cautiously, “Well, uh, she’s always thought the buggers were cute and she found a pretty banged up one recently. It was pretty hostile when approached, but she doesn’t want to let it die.”

Lightning pinches the bridge of her nose and exhales deeply. Leave it to Serah to think an Amphisbaena is _ cute _, she thinks. And of course she wants to feed it, because Chocobos are apparently not enough.

“Has anyone tried to dissuade her?” She finally asks. Sazh looks away with a grimace and it doesn’t take a genius to figure it out. “Snow professed his undying support didn’t he.”

“Heh, he said it’s okay because he’ll be there to protect her.”

“Of course he did.”

Lightning is positively thunderous as she grabs her carefully maintained gunblade and storms out of her house. Sazh follows behind her, waves at a concerned Hope, and tries to catch up to her long strides. It’s oddly reminiscent of the first time they met and subsequently worked “together”.

As expected, Hope comes up to flank her on her other side and silently questions Sazh. Sazh shakes his head and tilts it towards Lightning. Hope nods, understanding that Sazh prefers not to repeat whatever go Lightning in this state right now.

It doesn’t take long for Lightning to reach Serah and Snow’s home at her pace. She opens the front door with a somewhat dramatic flourish, startling the current occupants. Serah and Snow were obviously playing with Dajh, the Chocobo chick nestled comfortably against his torso.

Lightning feels slightly uncomfortable for interrupting. She crosses her arms as a reflex and pushes through it. She waits until Sazh picks Dajh up, telling him that they’re going to play hide-and-seek, which morphs Dajh’s confusion to an excited exclamation. Hope walks out with them with one last curious glance behind him.

Once they’re gone, Lightning levels the full power of her glare on Serah. Snow smiles nervously, while Serah tilts her head in question.

“Explain yourself,” is all Lightning says.

Sarah blinks. “Explain what?”

“The whole…” Lightning gestures vaguely, “Amphisbaena business.”

“Oh!” Serah perks up noticeably at that. “It got pretty badly hurt and it can’t fly right now, so I want to bring it some food so it doesn’t die.”

Lightning wants to go into why that is a _ terrible _ idea, and maybe she would have a year ago, but Serah looks so excited that she settles with, “It attacked you.”

Serah nods as if it’s the most natural thing in the world. “Wouldn’t you if you were wounded and some weird creature approached you?”

Lightning can certainly give her that, but that’s not the point. She’s sure there’s something she can say to make Serah drop this but she doesn’t know what. Everything she can think of sounds like a lecture and she’s learned that it does more harm than good where Serah’s involved.

The only possibility left… is something she’s not very keen on. She knows it’s what she should do the second she thinks of it, but it’s not something that’s easy for her. She owes it to Serah though, after all she put her through. Right, she just has to go for it.

A few seconds have passed as Lightning has been organizing her thoughts. Serah is waiting patiently, as she usually does when this happens. Snow just looks even more nervous than he was before, and Lightning thinks she really should have tried the silent treatment with him earlier.

Lightning takes a breath to center herself, hesitates, and then mumbles, “I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

Serah frowns, her nose scrunching up. “Sorry, I didn’t hear what you said.”

“I…” Lightning falters, clears her throat, then tries again, “I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“Oh, Light…”

Lightning can’t decipher Serah’s tone in that moment. She knows it’s because she’s not looking at Serah’s expression. But Lightning can’t bring herself to look at her, like she’s… scared of what she might find if she does. 

Serah grasps her forearm gently and Lightning reflexively glances over to her, only to freeze. Serah is looking at her with such warmth that Lightning almost can’t handle it. Serah smiles at her softly.

“Hey, I’ll be careful. I won’t go anywhere you can’t follow, I promise.”

[There’s something about that sentence that cuts so very deeply in Lightning, makes her suddenly glad that Serah is alive. It’s horribly dissonant, as if it doesn’t belong here. It’s gone as quickly as it came, but it still rattles her.

“What’s wrong?”

Serah’s concerned voice cuts through the haze and Lightning shakes her head slowly. She doesn’t know if it’s for her own sake or Serah’s, at this point.

“It’s nothing,” Lightning says.

Serah stares at her, unconvinced. Lightning can’t blame her, not when it definitely didn’t feel like nothing, but it’s also not something that she feels she should be worried about.]

Lightning clasps the hand resting on her forearm in reassurance. In the same moment, she registers that Snow has been doing various stationary physical exercises with his back turned to them. It’s his version of giving them a semblance of privacy without actually leaving and Lightning thinks it’s utterly ridiculous, but it’s still appreciated.

“So, about that Amphisbaena,” Lightning says, casually.

Serah is suddenly apprehensive, because Lightning never just says things _ casually _, especially not when having an emotionally charged moment.

“Any chance you’re going to be careful by not stepping in a ten meter radius of it?”

Serah blinks, then pouts. “Aw, I was so looking forward to having my hand bitten off, too.”

Lightning looks at her incredulously for one moment, before the twitch of Serah’s lips betrays her. Lightning sighs in consternation. [It’s oddly reminiscent of Vanille and Fang’s particular brand of humor, which Vanille had helpfully dubbed as “being a little shit” after one of Fang’s infamous one-liners. It stirs something in her, the thought that they might have rubbed off on Serah through the various stories she’s heard.]

Serah, knowing she’s been found out, giggles. “Don’t worry, my plan will be safe for my hands.”

Lightning gives her a look and Serah grins before she elaborates.

* * *

A few days later, Lightning and the others find themselves staring at Serah as she attaches some meat to an arrow and fires it. Though she’s been practicing, she misses her shot. She expected her meat arrows — “marrows”, as Sazh had named them, to Lightning’s great displeasure — to be unwieldy, for obvious reasons, but it’s a different thing to actually shoot one.

Regardless, she isn’t deterred. It takes a few more tries, but she gets an arrow close enough that the bloodied Amphisbaena can reach it with its mouth. Everyone watches its movements expectantly. It eyes the arrow suspiciously for a couple of seconds before its hunger wins out and it gobbles food, shaft and all.

Serah makes a noise at the back of her throat and removes the arrowheads for her subsequent feeding attempts, worried that the creature might hurt itself. She has to adjust her shooting again, but it’s easier this time around.

She continues until she’s left with her final challenge: water bomb arrows. She had to prepare them beforehand, so she only has a very limited number of them. That’s why she started with the marrows, with a much larger margin of error.

She regulates her breathing and takes aim. She releases the bowstring and watches the arrow fly towards its target… It explodes on the Amphisbaena’s kind of beak and it lets out an indignant squawk, followed by a glare in Serah’s direction.

Serah ignores it, completely focused on her task. She shoots her second arrow as she vaguely hears something like, “These have got to be warrows, then,” followed by a short, “No.” 

She quickly gets through all six of her water bomb arrows, after which she turns to the others with a triumphant grin. Her plan worked remarkably well, if she does say so herself. She barely has time to blink before Snow sweeps her up and twirls her around while gushing about her archery skills.

The others are suitably impressed that they congratulate her and make various comments during the twirling. The only person she doesn’t hear is Lightning, though she’s not especially worried about that considering Lightning can be a tad shy in her compliments.

Once the twirling is over, Serah catches Lightning’s eye and gets a short nod and a small smile. Serah’s grin gets even wider at that, because that’s as good as it can get with Lightning.

On their way back, Lightning and Serah end up walking side by side, a little ways behind the rest of the group. The sun hasn’t set yet, but it’s getting low in the sky. They walk in comfortable silence, their shoulders brushing every so often.

Lightning brings a hand up to squeeze Serah’s shoulder lightly and says, “Good job, Serah.”

Serah, pleasantly surprised, beams at her sister and she signals Lightning for permission before she launches into a perhaps too enthusiastic side hug. It gets a yelp out of Lightning and the both of them end up struggling to keep their balance. By some miracle, they manage to stay mostly upright.

“Sorry about that…” Serah says, sheepish.

Lightning… Lightning laughs softly and pokes Serah’s forehead with her index finger lightly. “It’s fine.” A beat. “Not all of your plans are meant to succeed, evidently.”

Serah gasps, scandalized. She knows she should say something back to her, but it’s been so long since Lightning has genuinely teased her that she’s too overwhelmed to think of a good comeback. Instead, she lightly hits Lightning’s shoulder with the back of her hand, which gets an amused hum out of Lightning, and they fall back into a comfortable silence.

This time, though, Serah slips her hand into Lightning’s and holds it for the first time in forever. Lightning is a bit surprised, but squeezes their joined hands regardless. Serah enjoys seeing how content Lightning has been recently, maybe more than she’s ever seen. She knows it’s in no small part thanks to the bonds Lightning formed while she was a l’Cie, and Serah isn’t sure she could ever convey how grateful she is.

Serah looks to Cocoon, in all its crystal glory. It’s something she’s gotten into the habit of doing, because she’s noticed it’s a trend in all the ex-l’Cie. Dajh is the only one who looks at it purely in wonder, marveling at how beautiful it is. There’s some of that in the others too, but it’s always overshadowed by more complex emotions. 

Serah isn’t worried about most of them, really. She’s gathered that they all miss Vanille and Fang, and it’s something that she’s started feeling too. No, Serah is only worried about Lightning, because when Lightning looks at it, Serah has a nagging feeling that she might disappear at any moment.

It’s gotten better over time, at least. Right now, for instance, Lightning has followed Serah’s gaze and Serah doesn’t have warning bells ringing incessantly in her mind for the first time in a long while. Maybe it’s because Serah’s hand is anchoring her, or something was weighing on Lightning’s mind before today… Serah doesn’t know, but she’s happy that she might be helping her sister in some way.

For now, as Serah often does, she sends a silent prayer — to whoever will listen to her — for Vanille and Fang to come home, to chase away the melancholy that sometimes besets those she loves.

…That, and she’d really love to meet them one day.

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact #1: Initially, the next stage of Serah's adventures involved her getting a pet Svarog and feeding Adamantoises and other variants with, you guessed it, giant leaf arrows (glarrows)... but it wouldn't have aligned with what I ended up going for. 
> 
> Fun fact #2: I try to think about gameplay elements in a way that also makes sense for the characters as much as possible, so I've come to the conclusion while editing that the save terminals are a) 3D printers and b) placed by Barthandelus on Gran Pulse to help the l'Cie. It's really suspiciously convenient that they still have a link to Cocoon's network of wares while on Gran Pulse...  
It's also funny to think about it that way, since that would mean none of the four party members from Cocoon questioned the fact that the terminals work on Gran Pulse, probably because they're so used to having it in their lives. Meanwhile, Fang and Vanille know that those terminals weren't there before, but they kinda shrug it off as "shit happens when you've been asleep for a millennia, I guess".
> 
> Fun Fact #3: Writing this made me realize a lot of things about FFXIII-2's setup, or at least what I know of it, but I'm not gonna share it here because this A/N is already long enough... and I would actually go over the character limit ^^'.
> 
> Anyway, since Vanille and Fang's presence was woefully lacking in the fic for obvious reasons, I'm just gonna go ahead and share a few headcanons:
> 
> \- Vanille likes building robots, so I feel like the next logical step is that she dabbles in prosthetics. There's virtually no way Pulsians can just live alongside all those monsters without losing some limbs once in a while, and they did have the tech for wind turbines and robots so... y'know.
> 
> \- I love complementary themes so I've decided that Fang is especially good at taking care of injuries/sicknesses. Everyone in Oerba knows the basics, but Fang is part of a few who really know their obscure wild plants and their effects, partly because she gets herself into Situations often. Bonus points for the irony in Fang not being good at healing magic. She's also not a fan of Cocoon having this few wild plants, because she's a practical person, but she gives decorative flowers a pass because she's a lesbian and Vanille would like them.
> 
> \- Fang is great with kids, if a bit prideful. Teen Fang absolutely challenges the local children to try and topple her and doesn't let them win. She's smug about it, too. Vanille walks over to see what they're doing and Fang replies with something cocky. Vanille nods sagely, then launches into a tackle that gets Fang to the ground. The children cheer while Vanille grins triumphantly down at Fang. Fang herself is having a hard time processing, both because she was taken by surprise and because she's a simple gaylord. That said, Fang gets her revenge a week later, and thus starts the Great Fanille Prank War.
> 
> \- I randomly thought while writing this that the first time Vanille calls Fang "a little shit", Fang's first reaction is to be particularly offended at the word "little" and it's hilarious to Vanille. It becomes an inside joke.
> 
> \- Vanille definitely says "fuck".


End file.
